Shelley Brown has joined FCB Toronto in the newly-created role of chief strategy officer.
The move to FCB (formally DraftFCB) concludes a two-and-a-half year tenure at BBDO Toronto where she served as national planning director. Prior to that, Brown was president of Zig (now Union) and has worked on brands including Molson, Pfizer, Visa, Unilever, American Express and TD.
“Part of what drew me to FCB was the opportunity to build, create and explore what strategy can be,” Brown said. “Not just within the strategy department but across the entire agency, and really making sure that we’re having the biggest possible impact on the work itself, what that does for our client’s businesses and making it as smart as it can be in a truly modern sense. And it’s that sense of ambition and exploration that really drew me to the opportunity.”
Brown’s appointment comes on the heels of major changes at the agency. Last year saw FCB drop “Draft” from its name, re-position itself globally and re-structure internally. Tim Bowen was hired as CEO of FCB Canada, Tyler Turnbull took on the same role at FCB Toronto, and chief creative officer Jon Flannery came on board from FCB’s Chicago office.
A “creative technologist” position, filled by Alex Glinka, was also created, and the agency is currently busy integrating its digital and brand teams into one strategy department.
“It’s a really exciting time of change and evolution and at the same time, a kind of returning to the soul of the FCB brand, across the network overall,” Flannery said. “What we’re trying to do is move more towards an ‘and’ model. The conversation is still dominated by TV or radio, radio or online, digital or social and that’s kind of an outdated conversation, because it’s really all of them, and all at the same time.”
Vice-president of strategy Heather Segal will also have an expanded role within the new integrated department, and is tasked with leading brand and digital strategists to help shape the shop’s expanding capabilities.
“I think it’s really important to have a single leader for the integrated team, because it really brings people together and actually pushes them to learn from each other, which makes everybody smarter,” Brown added. “That to me, was a really important structural change that signaled a kind of change in thinking for the agency overall.”
